MICHIGAN HOUSE ENVYContemporary design creates a home that glows | 0:53

This architectural stunner is called the Halo House because after dusk, it's ringed by a circle of light. Not only does it glow from the inside, but the outside walls are washed by light from overhanging beams.
Detroit Free Press

It is rare for any of West Canfield’s restored houses to come up for sale, said Realtor Jason Hill, who specializes in historic Detroit. It’s just a handful of houses and the owners stay put.
Detroit Free Press

Real estate does not come with a more uniquely Michigan feel than this: A 26,000-square-foot log cabin north of Marquette with 26 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, 32 fireplaces, magnificent Lake Superior views, a steam room and a price tag of $19.5 million.

The fabulous, century-old home even has a name: Granot Loma, created from letters in the names of the couple who built it and their oldest three children.

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"It's a one-of-a-kind building. It has its own aura," said Tom Baldwin, 61, a Chicago bond trader who has owned the house for nearly 30 years. "It's very difficult to take a picture of it and get the sense of it, mainly because there is so much detail in the structure and in the time period that it was built."

Baldwin was on a business trip in New York in 1987 when he picked up an issue of the Robb Report, a magazine that features luxurious homes, vehicles and travel destinations. Granot Loma was the subject of its cover story.

Soon after, Baldwin visited the house while on vacation, with an eye toward an investment. Captivated by its north woods charm, he bought it and about 5,000 acres surrounding it for $4.5 million.

Baldwin spent decades of long weekends, holidays and vacations at Granot Loma with family and friends. He currently lives there full-time. But now, he is ready to sell it to the right buyer. He listed the house late 2015 at $40 million including all 5,000 acres of property. The house went back on the market this winter with 415 acres.

The dining room at Granot Loma.(Photo: Courtesy of Tom Baldwin)

Colorful history

The home's history and Baldwin's own are equally colorful.

Louis Kaufman, a native of Marquette, made a name and a fortune in banking. His wife, Marie, grew up in Chicago, daughter of Otto Young, a jeweler who became a real estate mogul after the Chicago fire in 1871.

Otto Young may have set the standard in his daughter's mind for lakefront real estate. The vacation home he built on the shores of Wisconsin's Lake Geneva is a local landmark. A condo inside of it just sold for $6 million.

One of the 26 bedrooms at Granot Loma.(Photo: Courtesy of Tom Baldwin)

Kaufman had applied to become a member of the exclusive Huron Mountain Club, a 13,000-acre wilderness owned by 50 fiercely private partners. He was denied and commenced building Granot Loma soon afterward.

The structure — logs imported from Oregon supported by an interior steel frame set in 6 feet of concrete — was built between 1919 and 1923 by several hundred craftsmen, with interior finish work stretching on for several more years, in a style known as Adirondacks rustic. The interior included finishes such as birch bark and cedar bark as wallpaper, handcrafted wood furniture and murals of Native American scenes painted by Orry Kelly, who would later move to Hollywood and became an Oscar-winning costume designer.

Over the years, the Kaufmans hosted many guests including Henry Ford, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Mary Pickford and Fred Astaire. Kaufman died in 1942; his wife in 1947. Their daughter, Joan, married one of the farm's caretakers and lived there until her death in 1975.

Into the modern era

Baldwin, born in St. Louis, was a sales manager in the meat packing industry before he began trading bonds in Chicago. His star rose during the heady markets of the 1980s. Profiles from the time note his sharp sense of the market as well, as the fact that he once lost $5 million in a single trading day. As an investor, he financed the renovation of Chicago's Rookery Building on LaSalle Street, as well as other projects.

Granot Loma's kitchen was remodeled after the kitchen in the White House.(Photo: Courtesy of Tom Baldwin)

Baldwin and his oldest three children would often fly from Illinois to Granot Loma. One trip — made in a Cessna just before Thanksgiving 1989 — turned into a life-or-death drama.

The plane's wings iced up, and it crashed into a stand of trees. Battered and bleeding, Baldwin, the pilot and the kids spent the night huddled around a fired in the woods as 14 inches of snow accumulated around them.

"We were lucky that we survived," he said. A Russian satellite picked up the plane's distress signal and relayed it to the Air Force, which sent it to the Coast Guard in Traverse City. A helicopter arrived the next morning.

Even with a $4.5 million price tag, Granot Loma was a bit of a fixer-upper. Baldwin brought in workers to replace logs and restore the home. In 1991, he had it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He added a few of his own touches, including a 3,000-gallon hot tub, remodeled the kitchen after the White House kitchen and added a glassed-in breakfast nook.

Baldwin said he loves the home's one-of-a-kind character.

"It strikes you that this is more of a work of art than anything," he said. "If Donald Trump lived here, it wouldn't be 'Donald Trump's home.' It would still be Granot Loma."

Baldwin, who has rented the home out at times for corporate retreats, photo shoots and meetings, said he also appreciates the beauty of the land and its privacy.

Baldwin, now 61, also owns a condominium in Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood. He said he doesn't use the lodge for business or outdoor activities the way he used to, and there are other parts of the world he'd like to visit.

When the right buyer does come along, Baldwin said there's a possibility he will build a smaller home on the neighboring property he'll still own. In any case, he admits it will be difficult to move.

"It's going to be a shock to my system," he said.

Contact Kathleen Lavey at 517-377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @kathleenlavey.